TWO LIVES LOST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 142, 19 June 1903, Page 3

TWO LIVES LOST.

A TERRIBLE SITUATION. Press Association. Elecrric Telegraph. Copyright. Auckland, June 19. At three o'clock this morning a fire occurred at a boardinghouse in Wyndham Street, formerly known as the Shakespeare Hotel, kept by an Austrian named Lukich. It apparently started at the rear of the top storey. There were in the building the progpriotor, his wifo and child, sister-in-law, four boarders—two men and two women—aiso an Austrian (name unknown), and an old man named Mark Markavich, employed by the proprietor. The inmates were aroused amid great excitement and confusion, and endeavored to escape from upper windows by fire escapes. . The darkness and dense smoke rendered the situation terrible. Mrs Lukich, with a baby in arms, was observed standing in terror at one of the windows, when J. F. Lowry (an Herald employee) leaped on the fire escape, and, mounting rapidly, secured the child from the terror-stricken mother and brought it safely to the ground. The mother and others were assisted down the fire escape without sustaining any injuries.

On arrival of the fire brigade the danger of the fire spreading to the adjoining block, owned by the Auckland Gas Company, was soon over.

A search of the ruins was made, and two bodies found on the top storey— one being the old man Markavioh, and the other a boarder, name unknown.